Malifaux

Malifaux is a relatively new skirmish level wargame that plays off of the newfangled fads of steampunk, supernatural horror, and the desire for gamers to play a game in which undead hookers are a viable troop option. Despite bashing together a ton of things that were done by Deadlands years earlier, it still manages to be a rather fun game. Also surprising is the fact the storyline and world are not complete and total shit, like you would expect of something that looks like a bandwagon hopping attempt of the nth degree.

Game Mechanics

Malifaux is unique among miniatures games in that rather than rolling dice, players draw from their own deck of cards to please Random Number God. Actions can have positive or negative twists, which means that you flip over more cards and then take whichever is higher/lower, depending on the type of twist. Players also have a hand of cards they can use to cheat fate and replace an already flipped card with one that is better. Some models' abilities only work if a certain suit if played, so there's an advantage to keeping good cards in your hand to pull nice actions. Players have the option of purchasing official decks or simply using a deck of regular cards, with the devs helpfully pointing out which of the real card suits corresponds to their fanciful made-up ones.

The army-building mechanic is also pretty unique; players first generate a scenario, then hire their Crew using an agreed-upon number of soulstones (totally not ghost rock guys!) that set the level of the encounter. Each crew needs to be lead by a Master, which gives a few extra soulstones for use and dictates the faction of the Crew. When you're starting, this doesn't really matter, as you'll use the same Crew for everything, but in tournaments, all you're required to do is point out your faction beforehand, only choosing your Master when you figure out what sort of mission you'll need to play. A typical game is 30-35SS in size, which is about the size of one of the starter boxes.

Any soulstone not spent on hiring can be spent in-game by certain models to gain advantages on flips, generate new models, healing, etc. Certain Masters benefit from a large stash, and others demand that you fill the board with units before the game starts.

Victory is determined through pregenerated victory conditions. There's a big general one, but players can also take schemes, which are like miniature objectives. They earn more victory points if they announce them beforehand, which possibilities ranging from getting the first kill to assassinating the opponent's Master to simply being a dick the whole game. There are also Master-specific schemes, some of which are retardedly difficult to pull off and others which practically occur automatically.

The Factions

Because all games need different, "morally distinct" factions, Malifaux has five. All of them have different play-styles, with the different Masters providing further diversity.

Guild

For the cowboy lover in all of us. Primarily a direct-damage/shooty type army full of cowboys and 'upstanding' citizens. Strongest in the meta right now because of their absolute superiority when it comes to shooting alongside absolutely retarded terrain rules that can lead to nearly empty boards. Best for people who prefer straightforward games of shooting the fuck out of people with cowboys. The box sets for them are fairly solid, with Perdita Ortega's being completely playable for a newbie who has never a game before.

They're fluffed as the big all-controlling group that manages everything in the game setting, accomplishing this through the twin fists of bureaucracy and shooting you in the fucking face. Kind of like the US government.

Resurrectionists

The obligatory undead-filled faction. Focuses on some trick-based gameplay, with certain Masters flooding the board with ridiculous numbers of generated monsters and debuffing enemy units. Truly ridiculous in the hands of a good player, but certain machine-based armies can shut them the fuck down by generating very few corpse counters (the creepy fuel that drives their engines). To play properly, expect to buy a lot of zombie dogs, especially if you're running McMourning. Notable for containing their first true weeaboo faction in the form of Kirari, their resident Japanese rip-off ghost who manages to not suck.

Fluffed as a bunch of lunatics running around, reviving corpses to eventually overthrow the Guild. Also entertaining because it's the faction most people point out when looking at the game, as it contains both zombie hookers and their Jack the Ripper rip-off, along with his own rip-off, giving you three more layers of rip than you'd want.

Arcanists

Trick-based faction, they rely on synergy, buffs, and some direct-damage spells to fuck people up. Generally not too forgiving for newer players, but able to really hold their own with a competent player. Get some cool units, including the ever-popular Steampunk Spider we learned to love from Wild, Wild West. Options for a Will Smith-based Master are not included yet; right now, all you've got are a steampunk scientist, a dude who likes animals way too much, a frozen bitch, or a scantily-clad gold-digger showgirl. Expect games with them to take a while, as they are absolutely stupid with incredibly long combos and effect chains, with the worst offenders being the Showgirls, whose movement tricks are incredibly frustrating.

They fill the function of the secret society working to overthrow the power of the Guild and freeing magic, all while smuggling the shit out of things. Notable for controlling the Miners and Steamfitters' Union, which means they get all the neat steampunk toys along with some burly miners.

Neverborn

Glass-cannon beatdown forces. They can put out incredible levels of hurt, but can also die quickly. Very straightforward with some Masters, while others take a bit of getting used to, then completely shut down the game for your opponent. Topping the meta with Guild right now, as they seem to get all the best units, and do horrible things to your opponent. Their masters basically benefit from alpha striking everything in, shredding the opponent, and then calling it a game, because they've won, baby.

Fluffed as the original inhabitants of the hellish plane that the storyline takes place on, they just want to eat souls and kill the humans who invaded.

Outcasts

Basically, everybody else. Most of them start with no soulstone cache, but make up for it in their own special way. Masters can have ridiculous learning curves; Leviticus basically benefits by the player learning how to loop killing himself to gain ridiculous numbers of cheatin' cards, then using said cards to break the opponent. Other Masters have similar tricks, and can do horrible things.

This faction also contains the Gremlins, which are basically their own hilarious sub-faction. Take one part orks, one part Deliverance, and one part drunken game dev, and you've got the Gremlins. They spend the whole game blowing themselves up, accidentally shooting each other, and sending pigs flying at the opponent. Hilarious and workable, but they're absolutely fucked against a Hamelin list.

Fluff-wise, they're all over the place.

Why Should I Give A Shit?

It's a cheap fucking game, it's got somewhat decent mechanics, and the devs actually listen to the players and update things. Not to mention the sculpts aren't terrible, which is fairly nice.

You should check it out if you enjoy Mordheim, because it's like that if GW actually knew a good thing when they saw one.